10.01.26 · 2 min read
QC Growth has acquired The DevTool GTM Company, the go-to-market consultancy founded by Shane O’Connor. O’Connor joins QC Growth as GTM Partner and leads developer tools and open source go-to-market as a named practice. O’Connor worked with the firm as a contractor since February 2026, and is now committing himself full time to QC Growth.
QC Growth has acquired The DevTool GTM Company, the go-to-market consultancy founded by Shane O’Connor. O’Connor joins QC Growth as GTM Partner and leads developer tools and open source go-to-market as a named practice. O’Connor worked with the firm as a contractor since February 2026, and is now committing himself full time to QC Growth.
The DevTool GTM Company’s operations move into QC Growth under a single brand. Developer tools and open source has been a core vertical for QC Growth since 2023.
The mechanical work of go-to-market has become inexpensive. Building a list and running outbound is available to anyone, which leaves judgment and category experience as the parts that still decide outcomes. Both firms had been working with the same founders, each covering one part of the same problem.
“AI made the grunt work of GTM cheap. Anyone can build a list and fire off outbound now. What’s left, and what actually moves revenue, is judgment and experience. QC and I were already chasing the same founders doing two halves of the same job, so putting it together was obvious. Founders get one team from developer adoption all the way to signing contracts.”
Shane O’Connor, GTM Partner, QC Growth
O’Connor has led go-to-market at Scalar, through a 10x ARR run, and previously at Tyk and SmartBear. He describes his contribution as depth in one category: how developer tools actually grow, who really buys, and the network around them. That knowledge and network is the part that cannot be automated.
He is also the creator of gtmcofounder.com, an open source go-to-market project he built for pre-revenue and pre-funding technical founders. O’Connor describes it as that thinking made public. It remains freely available and is unaffected by the transaction.
QC Growth’s work in the category includes Netlify, Gatsby, Turso, Mastra AI, ZeroEntropy, Grafbase, Arcjet and Eraser.io. Shin Kim, Chief Executive Officer of Eraser.io, has said that QC Growth built a repeatable outbound process that helped the company land its first enterprise customers. Fredrik Björk, Chief Executive Officer of Grafbase, has said that the firm helped the company land its first enterprise customers and find product-market fit.
“Shane is one of the best GTM operators and leaders that we’ve come across and he has built one of the sharpest go-to-market playbooks in developer tools, and bringing The DevTool GTM Company into QC Growth makes that expertise core to everything we do. Together, we’re giving DevTools and Open Source founders a partner who knows how developers adopt products and how to turn that adoption into revenue. This will continue to establish QC as the leader in GTM in this space.”
Luke Bivens, Founder, QC Growth
Both client bases gain. QC Growth clients gain developer tools and open source depth. The DevTool GTM Company’s clients gain a larger team and greater continuity behind the work, across strategy, outbound infrastructure, GTM engineering and reporting.
In both cases the work runs through one team, from developer adoption through to signed contracts, with no handoffs. QC Growth is contacting clients of both firms directly and no change to any current engagement is planned.
“I’ve spent years getting technical founders paid for the developer love they’ve earned. Now I get to do it full-time, at scale, with people who actually get this world. AI can do the busywork. It can’t do the judgment. That’s the whole game.”
Shane O’Connor, GTM Partner, QC Growth
If developers are adopting your product and the commercial relationship has not formed yet, that is the gap this practice closes. Book a call at qcgrowth.com/contact-us
No. The DevTool GTM Company’s operations have moved into QC Growth under a single brand and the DevTool GTM Company name has been retired. Developer tools and open source go-to-market is now a named practice inside QC Growth, led by Shane O’Connor as GTM Partner.
Clients of both firms continue without change to their current engagements. Clients of The DevTool GTM Company keep working with Shane O’Connor, now supported by QC Growth’s operating team across strategy, outbound infrastructure, GTM engineering and reporting. QC Growth is contacting every client directly.
Shane O’Connor is GTM Partner at QC Growth, leading developer tools and open source go-to-market. He founded The DevTool GTM Company and has led go-to-market at Scalar, through a 10x ARR run, and previously at Tyk and SmartBear. He is the creator of gtmcofounder.com, an open source go-to-market project for pre-revenue and pre-funding technical founders.
Yes. gtmcofounder.com remains free and publicly available, and the acquisition does not change how it is published. It is an open source go-to-market project created by Shane O’Connor for founders who are pre-revenue and pre-funding.
The DevTool GTM Company was a go-to-market consultancy for developer tools and open source companies, founded by Shane O’Connor. Its operations are now part of QC Growth and the brand has been retired.
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